Eternal Bonds
by CCD
Summary: Naruto promised Sasuke that they would die together and try to understand each other in the next life. Follow Naruto as he tries to understand the dreams of his past life...and his new friendship with Sasuke as he tries to keep his promise.


The fourth ninja war had left the corpses scattered throughout the land and blood ran in ribbons across the vast battlefield. Several sealed animated corpses of fallen shinobi had been sealed away and several of the white Zetsu had been destroyed. A hush fell from both armies as two figures stood in the midst of the battlefield, staring each other down.

One warrior had bright blond hair and determined blue eyes. His body was encased in a golden cloak and the smile on his face betrayed the slight nervousness in his heart. Across from him stood the man who was once his comrade and friend. He stood slightly taller, his inky black hair waving in the breeze. Blood red and black hate filled eyes stared back at the one who he had come to kill. The tension between the two men so great that it filled the very air.

"So you really did come to die," the dark haired man spoke dark and menacing.

"I don't plan to die without taking you with me. As I told you before, Sasuke," the blond teen said watching the other, "throw all of your hatred at me. I'm the only one who can bare it. In the end, we will both die here."

"I am not going to die, Naruto. Not until I've had my revenge. For the sake of my brother…I will kill you."

Naruto didn't respond to the taunts. He closed his eyes and began to focus. This battle was going to take everything he had and if he could not save his friend, he would take his friend with him to the afterlife. Blue eyes snapped open just in time to see Sasuke move. With unimaginable speed, Sasuke swung his sword only to have it stopped by a Kunai. Naruto held his ground as they stared each other in the eye. Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly as he backed off and prepared to strike.

The battle was what many would call epic. More than anything it was a test of the wills of these two shinobi and the outcome of the battle would become the outcome of the war. Fierce clashes of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu were fought by these valiant warriors until they were both exhausted, their chakra depleted to the point of where they could only fight with their fists.

Naruto dodged a blow to his face when he felt a sharp pain in his side. The Sasuke in front of him vanished with a triumphant smirk on his face. The blond haired shinobi looked down to see he had been skewered by Sasuke's sword. Naruto used his speed to escape the blade, but the weapon has done it's deed. Naruto would bleed to death on that field.

"I told you that you would die Naruto," Sasuke sneered before laughter echoed off the walls of the canyon they were fighting in.

Sasuke let his guard down for a moment in his triumph that Naruto pulled a sword from a fallen comrade of the joint shinobi army. Using his speed, that now rivaled his father, he got behind Sasuke and stabbed them both.

"I told you, Sasuke," he said with conviction in his voice, "We would die together and try to understand each other in the next life."

Naruto locked his hands around the swords hilt and held it so that Sasuke could not pull away. The dark haired man spit up blood and glared back at his blond companion.

"Damn you, Naruto. I don't want to understand you. I want my family back…my clan…my brother…"

"I know. I want Pervy Sage back and I wanted to get to know my parents. Let's go Sasuke…to where they are. Let's forget being the last Uchiha and the Nine tailed Jinchuriki and go home."

It was in that moment, Naruto felt his friend accept his death. Sasuke was tired of fighting. He was tired of the responsibility of an avenger. Naruto laid his head down on his friends back as he felt moisture fill his eyes. He wouldn't cry though. Instead, both shinobi stood there until the blood loss made them fall to the ground.

Naruto heard the cry of the medics as they rushed them, but he knew it was too late. He looked over at his friend and watched the light leave those tormented eyes before he too closed his eyes and slipped away into the darkness of death.

Naruto shot up in his bed just before his alarm sounded to wake him up. He grabbed the annoying thing and turned it off before throwing it against the wall. The blond teen was annoyed. He had that dream again…the one where he died. Died with someone who felt so important to him, yet he had never met. The sixteen year old rolled over and out of bed. There was no point in trying to sleep an extra ten minutes when all he would think about was that dream until it pissed him off some more.

He walked into his bathroom and kicked the door shut. He started his shower water and relieved his bladder before hoping into the hot water. The teen relaxed some of his stress away as he washed his shaggy untamed blond locks. It didn't take long for the water to turn cold and he got out of the shower. Wrapping his wet body in a towel, he made his way back into his room. He dug through the clothes on the floor until he found clean pair of jeans, underwear and a t-shirt.

Naruto grabbed his orange backpack and made his way down the stairs to the kitchen. His godfather Jiraya was sleeping with his head on the table. It looked like the old man had been up all night working on one of his perverted novels. The teen rolled his eyes as he put a pop tart in the toaster and waited for it to pop up. Once it did, he heard the honking of a car outside. Naruto put the hot pastry on a napkin and ran out to where his friend Kiba was waiting for him. Kiba's dog Akamaru was hanging out the back window of the car and barked at his approach. Naruto petted the dog and got into the car.

"You're actually on time today," Kiba said punching him in the arm, "What's up?"

"Nothing, I just woke up and couldn't sleep so I got up. Why is Akamaru in the car? He can't stay in here while we're in school."

"He's helping me with a special project today. I got permission from the school and Iruka-sensei to bring him."

"You're a weird person Kiba."

"You knew that when we met, but it hasn't kept me from getting a girlfriend. Unlike some people…"

"I dated Sakura for three years before she decided she liked someone else. I'm waiting for someone else to catch my eye, now shut up and drive."

The whole ride to school, Kiba went on about various things, but nothing held Naruto's interest. He made the appropriate nods and noises until they pulled into the student lot at Konoha High. Kiba led Akamaru on his leash while throwing his arm around his friend."Today is going to be a good day. I can feel it," Kiba said as he pulled back and pushed Naruto towards the other end of the school. They wouldn't have classes together until that afternoon. Naruto had Iruka-sensei first class and he wasn't about to be late."

Konoha High School was a cross between a regular high school and the shinobi academies of old. Many of the old ways were lost, but along with the modern Sciences and Math equations, the students would learn survival training and self defense among other things. Iruka-sensei was one of Naruto's favorite teachers who taught survival training in the wild. Their field trip to go camping was in two weeks and he was looking forward to it. Naruto wasn't a very good academic student, but he excelled at his survival training. He was so lost in thought that he walked into a person standing on the side walk."Sorry about that," the blond teen as he scratched the back of his head, "I wasn't watching where I was going and…"

Naruto paused when emotionless dark eyes stared back at him. The man was young and a little taller than he was. His long hair was the same dark color of his eyes and pulled back at his neck. He wore a nice suit but all that wasn't enough to make him wary. There was something familiar about this man and Naruto knew he had never met him before.

"Who are you?" he asked confused by his own thoughts about the man in front of him."I should ask you the same question.""Naruto Uzumaki," he replied to the statement with a frown on his face.

"Mr. Uzumaki," the man said looking over the youth, "I recognize that name from my roster. I suppose I will see you later. Watch where you are going next time, Mr. Uzumaki."

Naruto watched as the man walked away towards the history building. The blond turned and walked to the elective building. He was not going to let a odd teacher ruin his day. He stopped by his desk to drop off his backpack and walked over to where his friends had gathered. Sakura and Ino were holding court in the back of the room. He walked up behind Shikamaru, Temari, and Gaara.

"What's going on?" he whispered to the trio.

We got a new history teacher to replace Kurenai-sensei while she's on maternity leave," Shikamaru replied in his lazy tone, "Apparently, the teacher is young, good looking, and has a younger brother who is our age."

"The teacher wouldn't happen to have dark eyes, long hair, and a deep voice would he?"

Naruto was being sarcastic, but Sakura gasped as she heard his question. She pushed through the trio and placed her hands on his shoulders. She stared directly into his eyes as she held a serious face.

"You saw Mr. Uchiha?" she asked him, shaking him nearly violently.

'I don't know if it was him or not. He wouldn't tell me his name."

Sakura let go and she and Ino squealed. Naruto backed away from the girls and went to stand behind Gaara. At least he knew that, Sakura would not go through Gaara to get to him.

"They say Mr. Uchiha is a prodigy who graduated high school at 13 and went into the corporate world before he was 18. He did well there, but once his parents passed away, he supported his younger brother and went back to school to get a degree in education. Now we've snagged him and his brother," Sakura prattled on, looking down at her fact book for reference.

"I caught a glimpse of the younger brother as he was outside talking with Iruka-sensei. He was quite a hottie," Ino said with that scary, dreamy look in her eyes.

Naruto frowned. What was the bid deal with this new teacher and his brother? Sure Sakura and Ino talked boys a lot, but to gush over someone they had never met was not like them. The small crowd of friends quickly dispersed in disinterest and Naruto followed Gaara to his seat.

"Stupid girls," the blond muttered causing his nearly emotionless friend to smirk.

"It is stupid and petty to talk about someone based on their appearance. If Temari hadn't dragged me over there to try and be sociable, I would have stayed in my seat."

Naruto smiled. He had know Gaara since the fifth grade and since they had both been a little odd, they got along well. Gaara had been abused as a child and because of that he had a hard time with his emotions. Naruto was the one who broke Gaara's hard shell; the one who could get the red head to smile again.

Just as everyone started to settle down, the door opened and Iruka-sensei came into the room. He was followed by a dark haired teen. Naruto watched the teen carefully. From the side, he looked familiar, but he just knew, he had never seen him before. He brushed it off as a resemblance to the teacher from earlier. They had to be the brother's Sakura and Ino had been discussing.

"All right, settle down," Iruka sensei said getting the class to quiet down. "We have a new student starting today, so I expect all of you to welcome him to our community." He turned and looked at the teen. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"

Naruto watched as the teen lifted his head and froze. He recognized this person. That sad pale face, those dark emotionless eyes…he knew this person. He was the same one that showed up in his dreams at night. He was the same person who died with him time and time again.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha…"


End file.
